Faith, Hope, and Love.Saint Tikhon Zadonsk.

Saint Tikhon Zadonsk.

Man is more beautiful than any other creature since he is in the image of God. Through the in­carnation he is justified and is no more under wrath. He has become a member of the body of which the heavenly head is Jesus Christ. He mysteriously par­takes of the life-giving Body and divine Blood. He is made worthy to become the habitation of God and the temple of the Holy Ghost. He is in communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Through faith in Jesus he becomes a son, an heir, a co-heir with Christ. Read the Acts of the Apostles and you will see that all these titles are ascribed to man by the Holy Ghost. ... And what will it be in the future life, according to the unfailing promise of God! What goodness, bliss, honor and glory! The unin­terrupted flow of eternal blessedness will be like a river, incomprehensible to the present mind and in­expressible by the tongue, the blessedness which "eye hath not seen" spoken of in (1 Cor. 2. 9). The children of God will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the heavenly Father; they will be as angels, like other gods. Glory be to the Trinity for having so honored and magnified our kind !

The soul cannot live without grace. Grace and faith are the necessary conditions for the soul which strives to restore its innate nobility. "Our own strivings are power­less",read Psalm 118.

Grace is the food and clothing of the saints. It wakens grief in a man's heart, making him dissatis­fied and moving him to seek the reason of this dis­satisfaction. Grace gives sorrow and grace comforts; showing us the poverty of all things, it engenders in us a repentant sorrow for having fallen short of the love of God. . . . One who is possessed by such sorrow will always grieve, for he thinks of God's offended love and not of the fear of hell. It is a grief of love.

This state, approaching what might be called perfect con­trition, is propitious to the growing longing after God; through grace, the love of God is increased in the heart, and the soul "desires nothing more than it desires God." Hu­mility, prayer, thanksgiving, assurance of divine mercy are gifts of grace."

Faith is a spiritual gift; it enters the heart. It comes down from heaven and the heart of man is caught up to things celestial.... Faith is the com­forting perception of the gospels produced in the heart by the Holy Ghost. It purifies the heart, endows it with joy and freedom, that gift of the Son.

Faith is intimately linked with hope, for "we hope in the One in whom we believe"; moreover, faith calls forth love for Christ, which leads to pity for all, love for all and-true fruit of true faith-acts of justice and sympathy.

Alone faith in the Son of God who died for us and rose again justifies us without regard to our works, nevertheless this faith cannot be idle but engenders love as its concomitant. Faith, this divine spark, is kindled in us and bursts into flame with the help of God through the reading of and listening to the word of God, through meditation on the acts of God in the past, through prayer, through the partaking of the holy mysteries and, like a good tree, it reveals itself externally by sweet fruit of love.

Faith is not an emotion divorced from the logical powers of the mind. The creed is a matter of thought and conviction as well as of deep re­ligious emotion produced by response to its historical and spiritual assertions. He never protested against the intellect, but only against the deadly theoretical knowledge of right dogma divorced from its expression in Christian life.

True faith is the keeping and confession of right dogma, that is to say, it consists in true faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God: for knowledge of beliefs is one thing and real faith in Christ is quite another. The first often makes one haughty, arrogant, and fruit­less. Hence, many who possess a right knowledge of dogma live lawless lives; many even preach on faith, and teach and exhort others, but themselves do not move forward, as though they were mere signposts on the road. True faith in Christ is humble, patient, merciful, and full of loving-kindness.

A traditional image best expresses it: faith is the root from which a Christian grows; good works of faith are its leaves and fruits and the more fruit there is, the lower do the branches bend, as true symbols of humility.

It is always good to enquire into one's faith, especially at the present time when there are so many phantasies. Believe, together with the whole Church, what has been revealed by the word of God.

Faith is inseparable from the other theological virtues. In the trinity of the acts of man's mind, heart and will, lies his total response to the perfection of divine love. And with the support of abundant references from the New Testament: "All Christianity and all Christian duty consists in faith, hope and love."

Lord Jesus, the tree of life.

The person of Christ should be everything for us, our estimation. The main obstacle to faith and spiritual growth is estrangement from the Christ of the Bible. It is our only enemy, the Devil who sows doubt, disbelief, and despair of the goodness of God" in people's minds particularly in the mind of a monk or of a man who is making spiritual progress. The Devil strives to tear the Church by schisms, by slan­derous reports on righteous persons and, above all, by blur­ring the image of Christ in people's memory. It is the Devil who turns our eyes away from the suffering of Christ in order to prevent, or at least to endanger, out salvation.

Yet the essential freedom of man remains-that freedom so much in connection with the spiritual combat. It is on account of this freedom that man can respond to divine love, to the sacrifice of Christ, and to the whole problem of the future life and salvation. The atonement has achieved the organic regeneration of man's fallen nature. But salvation has both its divine and its human side: God's love requires man's free response. "Are then all saved?. Salvation is offered to all," but those who reject Christ, or false Christians, deliberately cut themselves away from saving grace, from the fruit of the incarnation-for Christ wishes to save all (1 Tim. 2. 4).

Salvation is both the content of Christian belief and the appropriation by man of Christ's saving life and death and resurrection; it is at once a belief and a mystical experience which has its beginnings here on earth and is to be lived and fully revealed in the life to come: "The beginning of salvation is to learn our own wretchedness”. It is here that we must seek it not after death .... But whilst we neglect it, Satan steals away our immeasurable treasure, the eternal salvation bought by the blood of Christ." Whilst he is alive a Christian must strive after that "which is his dearest hope."

We were created and, having fallen, we have been redeemed for eternal life. We are renewed in baptism and through the word of God, and called to eternal life; to this end has holy scripture been given to us, to this end did Christ the Son of God, come into the world to live as a man, to suffer and die, that we should receive this everlasting life. The first duty of a Christian is eternal salvation.

The token of salvation here on earth is true faith practiced and expressed in acts of love, triumphant in its hope over all temporal tribulations and firm in its fidelity to Christ. Salvation in the future life can be apprehended through cer­tain images and mystically experienced.

You see the rising of the sun and yet when it goes down it seems as if it had never been there­ and then again it appears. This reminds us of the death and resurrection of Christ, and of the resurrection of the dead. Victorious soldiers inspire us to contrast earthly triumphs with the so much greater triumph of the saints whose souls are at peace and who contemplate the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem. What rapture overtakes those who put on the garment of salvation! ... If here on earth people listen to sweet singing, and still desire to hear it, and are comforted by it beyond words, how much more so in that mansion where “the voice of praise is ceaseless”. There is peace, harmony and love, and his will, and the fellowship of the saints and angels, complete serenity and perfect wisdom.

Beauty is a reminder to man of his innate dignity; in nature it is a memory of paradise and an image of future harmony.

Reference:

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk. Nadejda Gorodetzky.(1976)

Why tremble?.Saint John Chrysostom.

Saint Paul helping Saint John Chrysostom

in interpreting his teaching.

For all those who suffer...
A selected passage from the commentary of Saint John Chrysostom on the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God”.

 Saint Paul seems to me to have mooted this whole topic with a view to those who were in danger; or, rather, not this only, but also what was said a little before this. For the words, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us; and those, that the whole creation groaned; and the saying, that we are saved by hope; and the phrase, we with patience wait for; and that, we know not what we should pray for as we ought; are all of them said to these. For he instructs them not to choose just what they may think, themselves, to be useful, but what the Spirit may suggest ; for many things that seem to one's self profitable, do sometimes even cause much harm. Quiet, for instance, and freedom from dangers, and living out of fear, seemed to be advantageous for them.

Love. Saint Paisios of Mount Athos.

Conscience is the first law of God, which He deeply carved in the hearts of the First Created, and conse­quently, each one of us takes it as a "photocopy" from his parents when he is born. Those who have managed to sensitize their conscience through the daily study of themselves, feel themselves estranged from this world; and, as a result, worldly people are dumbfounded by their discerning behaviour. Those, however, who do not examine their conscience, are neither benefited by spiritual study, nor by the advice of the Elders, nor are they even able to keep God's commandments, since they quickly become insensitive.

"I Want".The miraculous healing of the paraplegic, Stavros Kalkandi.

The following story is not a well written narration created by the fantasy of a dreamer, nor a fairy tale for simple children's minds, nor is it a planned, fabrication which serves sane determined purpose. Rather, it is my true to-life testimony; the story of my life; a life which has passed through many painful stages and undergone many struggles and agonies until it finally found its correct meaning and its correct path, leading me close to God.

The War of 1940-41 found me as a twenty year old youth serving in the Martial Air force. In April, 1941, I received a Wound in the cervical part of my spinal cords lower marrow, while I was on an assignment. This brought about a certain spinal hemorrhage (eiparachnoeidis), and partial paralysis of the lower organs. In other words, I became a paraplegic.

The German occupation then followed.

Because my condition slowly began to improve, I went to the Middle East as an officer. There, I had the misfortune of reinjuring my neck which resulted in the aggravation of my condition. In April, 1947, after the war ended, the homeland sent me to America. As soon as I arrived there, I underwent an operation on my spinal column. I left the operating room worse than I got in. They diagnosed spastic tetraplegia with ortho­bladder (orthokystikon) disturbances. I then became a tetraplegic (paralyzed in both arms and legs). I stayed in America until 1957. Then I returned to Greece. I had a few flashes of improvements; however, without any positive results.

Praying the Jesus Prayer showed me Christ.

In the midst of a painful health crisis, a simple prayer revealed God’s presence not only in the midst of the writer’s own suffering, but also in the suffering of others.

I am no stranger to physical pain. For years, I have suffered from migraines, endometriosis and hip issues; my epidural failed during labor; and in college, I was hospitalized for two and a half weeks for a complicated case of appendicitis. But the suffering I experienced during my most recent health scare -- portal vein thrombosis, a series of three clots blocking my liver’s main blood vessel -- was different.

    Excruciating and intense, the pain and all that came with it left me disoriented and then reoriented. It moved me to lament and to trust. It brought me suffering, but also mercy.